Blog It Forward – Colleen Lee
Okay, so I usually have a rubber arm that is easily twisted. As far as the encouragement to do a B.I.F, my arm was less flexible. It has taken the following persuasions (nagging me constantly until I relented):
- It all started with Ramakrishna Dadi back in September 2013 with his BIF
- Being Member of the Month and Laure (I still miss her) Cetin calling me out to a do a blog and me ultimately promising to
- Not-so-new Starter to the SCN team Sofie Graham mentioned me in her BIF
- Alessandro Banzer commenting in his MoM that no-one has sent a B.I.F to him and hoped I would
- A failure by me and Steve Rumsby to get Steffi Warneckeon Twitter brought up this BIF
- A continuation regarding pseduo-Twitter-SCN-status-updates banter between Steffi and Matt Fraser in which Steffi edited hers and added Matt and me:
- And finally, quite a few status updates from people like Marilyn Pratt and Susan Keohan plus a heap of other people through comments in threads over the past year nagging encouraging me to write one.
Yes Susan Keohan – BIF is still going strong!!! SCN Lesson Learned: Persistance pays of 😉
So I would first of all like to apologise to the chance of disappointment of a brilliant BIF after all of the hype and expectation. Let’s get started then….
I was born and live in Australia. I come from a large family – one 5 children and am also a twin. And to answer the common reaction I get from most people when they discover I’m a twin: no there is not two of me! Funnily enough, my partner comes from a small family.
As far as home town goes, that’s Brisbane. Some of the (debatable) interesting facts about Brisbane: it gets nicnamed Brisvegas and people in Sydney and Melbourne joke about it being a small country town (and then they all relocate here). Go figure! There’s a bit of unwritten rule in Brisbane – you grow up and stick to your side of the river. For me, I was the exception and have crossed the bridge. The other part about Brisbane that’ll be cropping up in the news is we’re hosting the G20 this year (I’m avoiding the airport that weekend) – you’ll probably see photos like the one below of the City and SouthBank…
My Questions from the optional list
How do you think the way you were raised affects your Career?
I grew up in a family where you work hard for what you want. My parents believe in investing in education as a key to opportunity. Since then, it has led me to invest in my own training and career progress. I don’t sit back and wait for my turn to be promoted. If there is a training course I really want to attend, then I will fund it myself if my employer won’t. I own my career and no-one else.
What do you enjoy most in your work and why?
I love the problem solving and the diversity of what I do. I love the different people I communicate with. I love that I can feed my inner-nerd by writing some dodgy VBA code to analyse data, troubleshoot security incidents and design integrated solutions. I love that I can then translate my tech side to the business and discuss ideas and risk and process. I love that there is still something more to learn each day.
What do you most enjoy on SCN?
I enjoy the intelligent banter and diversity of the people. I love how a status update can become longer than a discussion in coffee-corner or About SCN. I love that SCN is my virtual team – just imagine every question you answer is a potential system design or build that you have contributed to!
Question from Steffi (as the latest one to pester so she wins)
What is the movie or TV series, that describes your life so far the best?
I’m thinking the IT crowd is probably up there with my work life as a Security person. I feel like a hybrid between all of them. Sometimes I’m kept in my box and other times management will invite me upstairs to play. And instead of asking someone to turn it off and on, I’m usually asking them to log-out and back in.
Drum roll for nomination…
So who to target nominate
- Alessandro Banzer – our latest Member of the Month and a great person I collaborate with in GRC space.
- Julius von dem Bussche – just to hear more about his cat Heidi
Instead of a question, I ask them to complete the sentence: “My SCN is…”
Wine glass is empty so time for me to sign out…
Cheers
Colleen
SCN Moderator, SAP Mentor, @frommikki (recent Twitter member #totallyLost #zeroClue)
Finally! 🙂 Lovely introduction, and that is a lot of people nagging encouraging you on. Just goes to show how well-appreciated you are around here.
Cheers! And I'll be raising a wine glass soon myself
Hi Colleen,
I'm glad you finally succumbed to some peer pressure and joined the #BIF family. I particularly love your statement ' I own my career and no-one else'. I feel certain that many people could benefit from taking those words to heart.
I've never had the fun of visiting Brisbane, but I feel certain I would enjoy it. Although as Graham Robinson always says 'Terrible place' (he doesn't want the secret of life in Australia to get out).
Please be sure to update us with more pics and stories of the goings-on during the G20.
Again, welcome!
Sue
<watches the baton being passed to Matt Fraser too/>
Hi Colleen,
finally you are one of us, thanks to all members who motivated you 😉
I thought I can read something about your fishing experience...
I absolutely agree with Susan about your statement ' I own my career and no-one else'
Thank you for sharing this thought.
~Florian
I tried to follow the 300-700 word part. Now I realise I should have just written
The fishing was my present to my partner. I am not a morning person but booked us for a 5:30 am departure for deep sea fishing up at the Sunshine Coast. I figured catching 2 fish was a follow up present 😉
Wohoo! Finally you've given in. 😀
Loved it and there is so, so, SO many points in there, where I went "yep... exactly...". It's like you wrote a lot of my thoughts down. Except for the Brisbane part of course. *g*
Australia is on my travel list, too. It's kind of cool to meet people from all over the globe through SCN, because I can ask you all for tips when I finally will visit your countries. ^^
EDIT:
I just noticed, that you forgot to add your BIF to the chain: Blog It Forward (BIF) Chain
😉
Wow Colleen!!! Though it is little late, you came up with the latest style. 😉
Probably, I would go with your learning approach. Many people would look for employers to sponsor their education. But, it is our career, if the employers are not ready to sponsor, just ignore that. We are the owners of our own career. I do believe in that. 🙂
Thanks for sharing lovely pictures.
Best Regards,
Ravi
This is just a great line.. Absolutely defines my style too.. 🙂
Colleen.. Great to know about you.. and Brisbane.. I absolutely love Australia especially for its wildlife and natural beauty. Nice Writing!
Yep, like everyone else, I love that sentiment of "I own my career and no-one else." That is probably the best career advice that could be given to anyone. I know I've been guilty in the past of whining about my employer not sending me to education, or to conferences, but Colleen is absolutely right. Your career is what you make of it, and it's not your employer's responsibility to shape it for you (though really good employers will foster mentor relationships and succession planning that should help those at the start of their careers get off on the right foot -- after that, though, it's up to you).
The world needs more of this 😆
and good luck with the G20 - you may want to work inter state for that week (and hopefully security is a bit better than the 2007 APEC conference)
[embed width="425" height="350"]https://www.youtube.com/embed/VfGkbekihyw[/embed]
Thanks Martin!
Yes I'm wondering what they'll get up to this time round. Good thing the Chaser team comprises of a heap of lawyers. I doubt Mr Abbott is looking forward to their antics.
I have to fly back out Monday nught after G20 so I hope airport is back to normal. Good thing I have a home office. Though city workers are being given the Friday off work.
I hope more people take control of their careers. It's part of the reason I volunteered to moderate training and careers spaces and try to develop some content there.
Welcome to BIF and to the SAP Mentor pack. Looking forward to meeting you in TechEd&&dcode 2015 😉
Nice to meet you 😉
I am curious to see if the Cat-man writes his own now 🙂
AAlmost convinced him to allow the cat to meet the coffee corner properly. I'm not holding my breath